Spring 2018 AHEAD to You! Webinars

Once again AHEAD is pleased to bring high quality, low cost professional development opportunities directly to your desktop, staff meeting, or gathering with campus colleagues.

We’re excited by this spring's topics and the expertise of our presenters. With AHEAD to YOU! webinars you can listen live and participate in the conversation through chat or phone line OR listen to the fully recorded and captioned Adobe Connect session whenever it’s convenient for you. Use the webinars as professional development for yourself and your staff or to foster dialogue and interest in accessibility on your campus by listening with colleagues.

All AHEAD to You! webinars are scheduled on Thursdays at 3:00 – 4:30 pm Eastern Time.

Complete instructions for participating and presentation slides are sent via email prior to each webinar. All webinars are captioned in real-time, with audio supported via an operator-assisted phone line. Links to the recordings will be sent to registrants who make a request after each session. See upcoming fall webinar information below.

AHEAD To You! Upcoming Webinars

Developmental Course and Treatment of ADHD during College

In fall 2017, AHEAD offered two webinars in partnership with CHADD on understanding ADHD and providing access, support, and accommodations for students with ADHD. Continuing that partnership, this webinar begins with a description of the challenges and successes that college students with ADHD experience from their first year in college through their fourth year. In addition to describing the developmental course of ADHD symptoms and executive functioning features, developmental changes in educational, emotional, and social functioning across this same 4-year period; treatment service utilization; and implications for assessment and treatment will be discussed. Information for this presentation will be drawn from a 5-year NIMH funded, multi-site longitudinal investigation: Trajectories Related to ADHD in College (TRAC) Project.

The second portion of the webinar will focus on the development and implementation of a cognitive-behavioral treatment (CBT) program for college students with ADHD: Accessing Campus Connections and Empowering Student Success (Access). Topics to be covered include:

As Disability Service providers, we often find ourselves on a tightrope. Are we counselors who listen to students and understand the everyday challenges of life as a college student with a disability? Are we gatekeepers of reasonable accommodations, focused solely on maintaining the integrity of courses and the curriculum? Are we educators, working to enhance each student’s learning and potential; student advocates or institutional employees? And, what about our role with faculty, who often want us to “take care of” all student issues? Are we expected to be all things to all people, and how is that possible? What guidelines are there to provide direction when we find ourselves on that tightrope? We will discuss this balancing act and professional principles that guide the work.

Many college students experience disabling levels of anxiety, depression, and other mental health conditions. According to the 2016 National College Health Assessment, almost 40% reported feeling “so depressed it was difficult to function” at some point in the prior 12 months, 19% felt overwhelming anxiety, and 10% had seriously considered suicide. Yet many schools lack comprehensive policies for responding to students with mental health issues or do so in discriminatory or punitive ways, requiring students to leave school or evicting them from campus housing. Some charge students with disciplinary violations for suicidal gestures or thoughts. These and similar practices discourage students from seeking help, isolating them from social and professional supports at times of crisis.

The Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law is committed to the civil rights, full inclusion, and equality of adults and children with mental disabilities. The Center was pivotal in passage of the ADA and employs cutting-edge litigation to effect progressive systemic change and impact public policy. AHEAD is pleased to partner with attorneys from the Bazelon Center to offer this webinar on facilitating access for students with mental health conditions in higher education, including determining reasonable accommodations, ensuring that voluntary and involuntary medical leaves and nondiscriminatory, and identifying strategies for working with campus disciplinary processes and other campus systems.

Fostering Disability Identity and Community on Campus and its Impact on Student SuccessThursday, April 26, 2018Presenters: Kimberly Elmore, DREAM Coordinator, National Center for College Students with Disabilities DREAM Student Leaders

Only one-third of students with disabilities enrolled in a four-year college or university and 41 percent of those in two-year schools graduate within 8 years, according to a new Hechinger Report that suggests teaching soft skills may increase retention and graduation rates. While skills in self-advocacy, time management, and communication are certainly important to postsecondary success, truly empowering students with disabilities to seek and use such skills for success in college and beyond often means helping them develop a positive disability identity and support network within the disability community.

In this webinar, a group of disabled and Deaf student leaders from across the U.S. will discuss the need for disability resources professionals to engage in this work. Student presenters and DREAM leaders will discuss concepts and tools for developing disability community on campus. Using a research-based model, they will discuss helping students develop disability pride through a crash course in Disability Studies 101, fostering positive campus climate by creating opportunities for disability community and engagement, and building coalitions to foster and celebrate intersectional identities of disability, ethnicity/culture, and/or gender. Personal narratives will demonstrate the impact of supporting the development of disability identity and cross-identity development on students and the campus community.

Speaker Bios

Arthur D. Anastopoulos, Ph.D. is currently a Professor in the Department of Human Development and Family Studies at the University of North Carolina Greensborough, where he also directs an ADHD Clinic. An active researcher, Dr. Anastopoulos has been an investigator on numerous research grants, including serving as the lead Principal Investigator on two ongoing projects: (1) a 5-year multi-site NIH funded project entitled, “Longitudinal Outcome of College Students with ADHD,” and (2) a 4-year IES funded multi-site project entitled “Improving the Educational and Social-Emotional Functioning of College Students with ADHD. He has held research, faculty, and department chair positions at University of Iowa, the University of Massachusetts, and the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. He received his B.A. in Child Study from Tufts University, his M.A. in General/Experimental Psychology from Wake Forest University, his Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from Purdue University and specialty training in both Pediatric Psychology and Cognitive Therapy at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center.

Jane Thierfeld Brown, Ed.D. is Assistant Clinical Professor at Yale Child Study, Yale Medical School; Director of College Autism Spectrum; and former Director of Student Services at the University of Connecticut School of Law. She has worked in Disability Services for 37 years. She holds a doctorate from Columbia University, Teachers College. Dr. Brown consults with many families, students, school districts and institutions of higher education. Dr. Brown has appeared on Good Morning America, CBS News and NPR. She has co- authored “Student with Asperger’s: A Guide for College Professionals,” (2009; published in Japanese in 2017); “The Parent’s Guide to College for Students on the Autism Spectrum,” (2012); and “Behavior Management and Self-Regulation,” (2012) along with many textbook chapters and articles. Dr. Brown is married and has three children, the youngest being a 25-year old son with Autism.

Eve Hill, J.D. is a Partner at the law firm of Brown Goldstein & Levy and a Principal with Inclusivity Strategic Consulting. She is a nationally known disability rights advocate and expert on disability and civil rights law. Prior to joining the firm, Ms. Hill was Deputy Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights at the U.S. Department of Justice, where she was a member of the Civil Rights Division’s leadership team and was responsible for oversight of the Division’s disability rights enforcement, educational civil rights enforcement, Title VI interagency coordination and the American Indian Working Group. Highlights of Ms. Hill’s work at the Department include participating as part of the negotiating team for the Marrakesh Treaty to Facilitate Access to Published Works for Persons Who are Blind, Visually Impaired or Otherwise Print Disabled; filing briefs and developing guidance supporting the rights of refugees, limited English proficient students, and transgender students; testifying before Senate Committees; enforcing ADA requirements for websites and other digital technology; implementing Olmstead community integration requirements in residential, employment and education settings; and enforcing civil rights in education, law enforcement, employment, public services, and health care contexts.

Jennifer Mathis, J.D. advocates on behalf of adults and children with mental illness, focusing on issues concerning criminal justice, community integration, employment, and access to education. Prior to joining the Bazelon Center, Maura served as a Senior Attorney at the Mental Hygiene Legal Service (“MHLS”), a state agency that provides legal services to people with mental disabilities in New York. At MHLS, Maura drafted and argued appeals before federal and state appellate courts concerning the due process rights of mentally ill individuals committed to psychiatric hospitals, individuals committed to forensic psychiatric centers after pleading not guilty by reason of insanity, individuals subject to guardianship petitions, and individuals facing civil commitment under Article 10 of the Mental Hygiene Law. Maura graduated from Harvard Law School, where she served as President of the Women’s Law Association and Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Law and Gender, and from Amherst College.

Lorraine Wolf, Ph.D. is the Director of Disability Services at Boston University. She holds a doctorate in clinical neuropsychology from the City University of New York and has over 25 years of experience working with children, adolescents and adults with neurodevelopmental disorders. She has taught experimental psychology, assessment, and neuropsychology at the undergraduate and graduate levels. Dr. Wolf has published and presented nationally and internationally on issues for students with attention and learning disorders, psychiatric disabilities, and autism spectrum disorders. She holds faculty appointments in psychiatry and in rehabilitation sciences at Boston University. She was a co-editor of Adult Attention Deficit Disorders: Brain Mechanisms and Life Outcomes (2001, New York Academy of Sciences), is the senior co-editor of Learning Disorders in Adults: Contemporary Issues (Psychology Press, 2008), and is the co-author of Students with Asperger Syndrome: A Guide for College Personnel (2009, Autism Asperger Publishing Company) and Students on the Spectrum: A College Guide for Parents (2012, AAPC). Dr. Wolf’s interests include the neuropsychology of neurodevelopmental disorders and developing effective services for students with disabilities in higher education. Along with her co-presenter Jane Thierfeld Brown, she developed a model of service delivery for college students entitled “Strategic Education for students with Autism spectrum Disorders”. She is the parent of twin teenagers, one of whom is on the spectrum which gives her a unique insight into these courageous young people.